The field of the invention pertains to air cooling and air conditioning apparatus and methods, and, in particular, to cooling semi-enclosed and open air areas where people congregate. These areas are very common in warm and hot climates and somewhat less common, but not unknown, in seasonally warm climates.
Air conditioning, even for fully enclosed areas, remains a very energy intensive activity because the laws of thermodynamics set rigorous limits to efficiencies that can be approached even with excellent insulation. With semi-enclosed or open air areas such as sports arenas, outdoor restaurants, outdoor arenas, roof-only concert facilities and band shells and other outdoor venues, full air conditioning is completely impractical. Therefore, to cool areas without walls or only partial walls, a different approach to air cooling is required such as continuous spraying of water into a blowing airstream.